Chapter XX

OF THE CONFEDERACY OF THE HOLY GHOST, CALLED THE TRINITY

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1. THE Lord said: The three heavenly kingdoms, Heractu, Eta-shong and Hapsendi, of the Triunes, were independent, but allianced for offence and defence against the evil Gods, Baal, Dagon, Shulleth, Ashtaroth and others, whose angel subjects were kept in slavery, and for evil purposes.

2. Now, therefore, the Triunes jointly declared war, to the end that peace might be secured in these heavens.

3. Nevertheless, each of the Triunes had charge of his own heavens and over such part of the earth as was covered by his heavens.

4. For they had divided up and appropriated both, the earth and the heavens, into three parts, one to each of them.

5. Here followeth, then, the history of the wars of the Triunes:

6. First, of Looeamong and the false Gods he overthrew:

7. A triangular was was going on in hada and on earth betwixt the angel armies of Baal, Dagon and Ashtaroth, in which ten thousand million angels were engaged under them.

8. Looeamong declared war against the whole of them, and impressed into his service eight thousand million angel warriors.

9. Ashtaroth, the most vengeful Goddess, had previously sent hundreds of millions of her warring angels down to the apostate Jews, to inspire them to wars and cruelties on one another, hoping, to exterminate them, lest they become Baal's subjects. And yet other millions of warring angels had she sent to the Parsi'e'an cities, and to the Eguptian cities, Daskrath, Babylon and Gonassah and Tyre and Romaxain and to the kings and queens of many other great cities, to inspire them to send forth armies to destroy, not only the worshipers of Jehovih, but all people that worshiped Baal, or Dagon, or any other God.

10. Baal, on the other hand, had sent hundreds of millions of his warring angels down to the earth, to Heleste and the west regions, and to the Israelites as well, inspiring mortals to war against the east kingdoms, especially Babylon and Daskrath, two mighty cities in the dominions of the Goddess Ashtaroth.

11. And the armies of mortals were moved forth by the armies of angels, whom they saw not; war raged east and west and north and south.

12. Looeamong, the Triune, said: I will spoil them both. I will send an angel army of warriors down to the middle kingdoms, to the great tyrant, Cyrus. I will possess the oracles and direct Cyrus to march against Parsi'e. He shall make an alliance with the Argos'yans.

13. Hatchesan and Karsoka shall be my countries. And the cities of Hemia and Babylon and Nine'vah and Gassakad and Hannedan and Saluem shall bow down no more to Baal and Ashtaroth, forever.

14. Belus shall be mine, and the cities and temples of Hina and Maroth and Hovan and Torres and Delfi; and the habitations of Phires and Somak and Macedon and Thues, and the great oracle-houses of Myrsilus and Myrsus and Gyges and Simon and Gamma and Fabiyan and Sulus and Craz'ya and Wakadya and P'hrid and Gemnae and Ma'zan and R'hodae.

15. By force will I possess them; yea, by force drive hence all other angels and Gods. And my warrior angels shall possess these temples, so that whoso cometh to consult the Gods shall receive mine own answers. I will drive mortals to war in mine own way, and to whatever place I determine to subdue or destroy.

16. Equally menacing were the boasts of the Goddess Ashtaroth; she had said: Whether I despoil heaven and earth, I care not. If I can not possess them, I will destroy them, so that no God shall possess them.

17. Into festering knots and hells will I cast tens of thousands of millions of angels, in case I do not succeed in winning all.

18. I will send millions of warring angels down to Xerxes, the Parsi'e'an king, and to his kingdom, and they shall obsess every man, woman and child to desperate madness against the Argos'yans and the middle and west nations.

19. I will lead Xerxes forth with the mightiest army that has ever been on the earth. And they shall despoil all regions, whithersoever they march.

20. For I will make Xerxes and all the Parsi'e'ans believe, they are doing these things for their own prosperity and glory, and for despoiling their own enemies.

21. And, after Xerxes hath despoiled and conquered all the earth regions, Baal and all other Gods shall be driven away from the oracles and temples. Xerxes shall issue a decree, abolishing all other Gods but me, Ashtaroth.

22. And, when I am thus well anchored on the earth, I will turn my legions against this new upstart God, the Triune, Looeamong. And I will cast him into a hell, from which he shall not escape forever.

23. So, Ashtaroth concentrated her heavenly warriors into this great and desperate work. For she had been maturing her plans, even before Xerxes came to the throne of Parsi'e. And, since, in those days, the kings and rich men in all those countries consulted the spirits, in reference to all important undertakings, it was not a difficult feat for Ashtaroth to obsess the millions of Parsi'e'ans to carry out her project.

24. Accordingly, Ashtaroth commanded her marshals to summon two thousand million angel warriors, men and women, for the work in hand. And when they came to Neabissa, a heavenly region to the north, over the earth-mountains Afflo'yagga, she caused Mateus, her chief orator, to prepare a speech in her behalf, and have it declaimed before the angel warriors.

25. Mateus, a one-time Lord to Osiris, nine hundred years previous, now made the speech, and this that followeth is a synopsis, to wit:

26. I, Goddess of all the heavens and of the whole earth. Behold, me, Ashtaroth! The earth and the heavens are mine, saith Ashtaroth! I clove the sun in twain; for it is mine. I clove the pieces again; for they were mine. From these I made the stars and the moon. But the great earth I made as my foot-stool; for it was mine, and ever shall be.

27. I peopled it over with all the living; they were my creation. And ye also are mine. I peopled the stars, and gave to the inhabitants thereof great delights. And the earth and my heavens were places of great delight. For I gave bountifully to all my children.

28. But the inhabitants of the far-off stars quarreled because of an evil God, Baal. And they cast him out. And he came here to despoil me and my heavenly places. Witness ye my beloved. I could destroy him with my little finger. But he is unworthy of your Goddess. To you I give the glory to capture him, and cast him into hell, and torture him forever.

29. But lest other evil Gods take possession of his earthly places, they shall also be destroyed. Hear ye then the command of Ashtaroth, which is, that ye shall go down to the earth, and obsess p. 682 and inspire the Parsi'e'ans to march forth and destroy all other people on the earth, beginning first with the stronghold of Baal, in Argos, where he hath many sub-Gods under him, where the Argos'yans, not knowing him, call him, Zeus.

30. And to whoso proveth valorous amongst my angel warriors, will I give great promotion and glory, and thousands and millions of slaves. For when Baal is overcome and cast into hell, ye shall take his angel slaves, and possess them yourselves, according to your valorous deeds.

31. Ashtaroth then officered her angel hosts, and sent them down to the earth, and they were distributed by the captains and generals around about Parsi'e. Being directed to preside in the presence of mortals by day, inspiring them to war against Argos, and to be with them at night, and talk to them spiritually in dreams and visions.

32. And it came to pass, that Xerxes and the people, the Parsi'e'ans, were moved to go forth and destroy the Argos'yans. And king Xerxes took two and a half million soldiers with him for his army. And so great was the inspiration and obsession of Ashtaroth's angels, that they caused another two and a half million of Parsi'e'ans to go with Xerxes' soldiers. So that Xerxes' whole army was five millions of souls, which was the largest army on earth, that ever had been, or ever shall be.